


Wild Ones

by PhoebeMurdivine



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Gen, Gore, also references to the world wars but again nothing detail, and telling the main relationship would be spoilery too, definitely some OOC-ness thanks to the circumstances, even though it's not necessarily romantic at all, it just hungs over everyone's heads still, it's hard to tag without spoiling the reveals, there are also flashbacks, there are other characters too but i really don't want to spoil it, there's definitely some of that, war crimes are vaguely mentioned but not explicitly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-05
Updated: 2016-01-05
Packaged: 2018-05-11 23:06:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,885
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5645167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhoebeMurdivine/pseuds/PhoebeMurdivine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knew the story of Mr. Vargas and his wolf. They lived up there on the mountain in that small, remote Russian village. They had been living there for seventy years, neither of them aging a day.</p><p>On a completely unrelated note, North Italy had been missing for seventy years, and ever since then the world had been going to hell.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Wild Ones

**Author's Note:**

> The plot and some stuff in this are inspired by other works - to avoid spoilers, I will only list them at the end.

Everyone in the village knew the story of Mr. Vargas and his wolf. Well, what was there to know, at least. No one really knew when did Mr Vargas appear with his big, grey wolf in a tow. Everyone knew the wolf would not attack unprovoked. To be honest, he seemed to even keep away the wild wolves who lived in the forests.  
They lived in the village for a while, Mr. Vargas never seen without his wolf. Often wearing sunglasses because the bright daylight on the snow hurt his eyes a lot. No one really knew what to expect from him. He would always help out when someone would ask him - but sometimes with a smile, sometimes making sketchy remarks. He was unpredictable, like the weather up there in the Russian mountains. They were far away from too north, so the days and nights were pretty evenly long, but still, it never really stopped snowing.  
But Mr. Vargas and his wolf never seemed to age. After a few years, they moved out of the village, out to the wilderness. There is a path which leads there, called Navarre’s Path, and whenever someone needs help, and they dare to take such a trek through the snow and the forest - Mr. Vargas and his wolf will be there, unchanged and unpredictable as ever.  
It’s been like that for about seventy years now.

 

On an unrelated note, the nations of the world were in ever increasing amount of panic. One day, Italy Veneziano disappeared without a notice, leaving his older brother to manage the whole country alone. Which wasn’t easy, as this disappearance happened right after the fallout from World War II - the world was in a bad state.  
Soon after his disappearance, the planet’s state became worse. First Venice fell, completely into the ocean - this made some nations think that this might have caused Italy to die, that was the reason for his disappearance, but Romano vehemently denied it. He could still feel his brother being alive, he just had no idea where.  
But it didn’t stop there. Climate change became worse, there were more and more storms and natural disasters out there.  
For the past seventy years, it steadily became worse and worse.  
It was not hard to come to the conclusion that Italy’s disappearance was somehow linked with this planet’s sorry state.  
They needed to find him, as soon as possible.

 

~*~

 

Mr. Vargas was good with his hands, everyone knew that. He loved to create - his small cabin was full of drawings. The teenagers from the village looked around in awe, especially seeing the pictures of huge fields and beaches and the pictures that just screamed summer at them.  
„Did you come from somewhere warmer, Mr. Vargas?”  
Mr. Vargas seemed to be in a good mood that day. He cooked them some kind of pasta, and wore a smile on his face - which relieved the kids a great deal. They had heard stories of Mr. Vargas’ worse mood. They did not know how much of it was true, but they spent the whole trip to the cabin praying they’d find him during one of his good days.  
„I did, actually. Pretty far from here, though.”  
„Why did you leave? I expect you to hate the cold after that.”  
Mr. Vargas looked on the pictures with a wistful expression. The wolf, as if sensing his owner’s feelings, walked closer, outside of the shadows he almost disappeared into, leaning his head into the young man’s lap, and Mr. Vargas just absentmindedly petted him.  
„Sometimes. We had to leave, though. Those areas aren’t really good for a wolf. He fits in here better.”  
„How did you even befriend a wolf, Mr. Vargas?”  
The young man grew quiet, and just looked down at the wolf, who looked back at him - as if he could sense they were talking about him.  
The silence went on for long, and the teenagers started to shuffle closer to each other.  
But Mr. Vargas just stood up, with a smile.  
„Finish your pasta, kids. And then you can go to sleep. Too late now to go back into the village, you will just get lost in the dark. First thing in the morning, you can go back, and will be even back by nightfall.”  
And with that, he disappeared into the next room, with the wolf following on his footsteps.

 

„What do you think what does he do here all day? Every day? For all these years?”  
„I don’t know. But honestly, no wonder he is weird. Isolation must be getting to him.”  
„He could move into the village.”  
„He used to live there, remember the stories. But you see - he doesn’t age!”  
„We don’t know. Maybe he’s like. The grandson of the original Mr. Vargas.”  
„Right. And who would be the mother? No stories of a woman living here. Ever. Just him and the wolf.”  
„Honestly, I don’t even want to know what he is and what he does.”  
„Same.”

 

„Okay kids. Rise and shine. You gotta leave.”  
The sun was barely up on the horizon, when Mr. Vargas opened all the shuttles in the cabin, letting in the light - he was already wearing his trademark sunglasses, and was frowning at the windows, as if the sunlight had personally offended him.  
„Get up. I packed you food. But you need to go. The way back to the village is long, and you don’t want it to get dark around you.”  
He sounded almost impatient, as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. The wolf was sitting next to his legs, excitedly tapping the floorboards with his tail.  
The teenagers got themselves together, and just glanced at Mr. Vargas, who was turning his back to him now, looking out the window. They exchanged glances between each other.  
Was this a… bad day? A bad mood?  
„Mr. Vargas, we… will never come here again.”  
„Most people don’t come here more than once.”  
„But I… I got a job in Moscow. And he’s coming with me to live there. So we… can’t even come back.”  
„Moscow, huh?” Mr. Vargas asked, with a faint amusement apparent in his voice. “Nikolai, your grandfather also went there, but never returned. Went to Siberia, though.”  
Silence sat on the cabin, and Mr. Vargas just chuckled, and turned back around, looking at them.  
„But whatever. The world changed a lot, didn’t it? Go and have fun in Moscow.”  
The wolf tilted his head curiously as the teenagers basically fled out of the cabin.

 

„Fucking creepy immortal asshole.”  
„He was so nice last night.”  
„Does he have that… schizophrenia thing?”  
„That’s DID that you think of. And I don’t know! It’s not like I excessively studied psychology. Yet.”  
„Or he’s just simply weird as fuck.”  
„That can be the case too. After all, if he really is the same Mr. Vargas through all these decades… he was alone with that wolf for seventy years. No wonder he’s got a few screws loose.”

 

The forever-young hermit just watched the two young men disappear further down Navarre’s Path, the wolf pressing his head into his hand, and he just scratched the back of the wolf’s ear absentmindedly.  
„I know. I was probably too mean, heh?”  
No answer, obviously, so he just chuckled and shrugged.  
„Come on, buddy. Let’s go on with our day.”

 

~*~

 

Nikolai knew he was lucky, but he had to stay low. He couldn’t exactly tell everyone why he was living together with another young man, and of course, some people didn’t forget about his grandfather either.  
But he was there now, and that was all that mattered, right? He was working in this government office - low rank, but still there.  
„So. What made you come here?”  
Nikolai smiled a little.  
„Not much back in that small village I grew up in. Just Mr. Vargas and his damned wolf. They are the only noteworthy things.”  
„Um. Excuse me?”  
Nikolai looked up - literally. The man who walked up to him was tall, very tall, with a serene smile on his face.  
„Can you please tell me more about this Mr. Vargas?”  
Nikolai shuffled a little uncomfortably under the stare of the stranger.  
„Um. He’s a strange hermit. Who lives there. It’s kind of a rite-of-passage for every kid to visit him once. And helps fix up stuff and sometimes sells nice paintings.”  
„Can you tell me how he looks like, please?” The stranger’s voice never became anything else but pleasant, but Nikolai still wanted to run away.  
„Well, he’s tall… not as tall as you, sir, but taller than me. And has brown hair, with a weird curl sticking out. And…”  
„That is enough Nikolai. Thank you. You are a good child.”  
The stranger patted Nikolai in the head, and he felt like he was gonna crumble, but then the tall man walked off.

 

The stranger pulled out his mobile phone and dialled a number.  
„Germany? Da, it is me, Russia. I think I may know where Italy is.”  
 

~*~

 

„Here? Are you sure, Russia? This is the middle of nowhere.”  
„It makes sense, does it not? Italy seemed to want to hide from the world. Well, he succeeded here.”  
It was dawn when they got to the village. It wasn’t easy to get there - by plane and then by train to the village. But barely any trains went to this small place, as it was even for a further walk away from the station.  
Treading the snowy landscape of Russia isn’t fun, especially not before dawn. Germany definitely never wanted to go to Russia in the winter again.  
There was already a middle-aged woman out, working, who just looked up at the strangers - it was Germany who walked up to her.  
„Excuse me. We are looking for someone named… Mr. Vargas?”  
The woman put her hands on her hips as she straightened up.  
„And why are you looking for him? He isn’t some circus freak show, you know.”  
„Why would he be a freak show?”  
The woman’s expression faltered, and Russia just smiled.  
„How long has he been here?”  
Quiet, as the woman looked downwards.  
„Come on, tell us. He hadn’t been aging a day had he? How long?”  
„Seventy years” the woman whispered.  
Germany and Russia exchanged glances. This meant that Italy had to come here immediately after the war.  
„Please. It is urgent we find him. I… I was his friend. We will not hurt him.”  
„You are like him too? Whatever… he is.”  
Quiet again.  
„Da.” Russia answered simply.  
The woman sighed and just pointed to a direction.  
„Follow Navarre’s Path at the end of the village. Deep in the forest, further up the mountain. Wild animals often go there so you can find the path easily. Be wary of wolves and bears… don’t be scared of Mr. Vargas’ wolf, though. If you don’t bother him, he’ll leave you alone. He only hurts people who had hurt tried to hurt them.”

 

~*~

 

„He has a wolf. Why does he have a wolf?”  
„Isn’t that his national animal?”  
„It is, but it still doesn’t explain why he has an actual wolf.”  
„I suppose we will have to ask him that too.”

 

~*~

 

Chopping firewood was one of the most boring stuff in a hermit’s life, and Mr. Vargas was absolutely done with it.  
„I know.” He muttered to his wolf, fixing his sunglasses on the top of his head... “I know it’s almost sunset now. I’m almost ready. Don’t worry. We still have time.”  
His wolf then stiffened, raising his head, sniffing the air.  
„What? What it is, buddy? Are we having a visitor again?”  
He looked up, and in the distance, he saw two approaching figures.  
The wolf growled.  
One figure very tall, and a scarf around his neck, and one, shorter than the other, but still tall, with blond hair, and…  
„Shit!”  
He dropped the axe to the ground, and just pushed his sunglasses down to his nose to cover his eyes, before taking long steps down to the approaching pair.  
„What are you two doing here?!”

 

Ludwig expected a lot of things from this meeting - an obviously angry Italy storming down the mountain, together by a big, grey wolf was not one of them.  
Italy was obviously used to the cold winter now. He had a thick coat and gloves and a hat, even though his curl was still sticking out from under it. His sunglasses mostly covered his face - but he still looked positively pissed.  
But not as pissed as the wolf, who jumped between the pair and Italy, growling, baring his fangs.  
„Hello to you too, Italy. Seventy years no see, I guess.” Ivan said with a smile – way too calm smile, concerning the angry wolf.  
And Italy didn’t even flinch upon seeing Ivan.  
„You… you two are fucking everything up. Shit! All the things… everything… it doesn’t matter. Fuck!”  
It looked like Italy was barely even registering them anymore - he was backing away from them, and a realisation slowly started to dawn on his face.  
And then he just turned around and ran, disappearing between the woods.  
The wolf let out one last growl before turning around and running after him, also disappearing.  
Ludwig moved, trying to follow him, but Ivan grabbed his arm.  
„There’s no use, Germany. He probably knows these woods like the back of his hands and it’s almost dark. No way we would find him.”  
„Is there even someone to find?” Ludwig asked, looking up at Ivan. “Because there’s no way that was Italy.”

 

~*~

 

Italy ran. He ran deep into the woods, until he fell on his knees, gasping for air.  
„Fuck. Shit. I fucked up. I fucked up.”  
The wolf whined, lying down to the snow next to him.  
„I know. I know.”  
His hands were shaking as he reached into his pocket, pulling out the dictaphone.  
Then he just turned it on, and started to speak.

„Feli… Feliciano, I messed up…”

After finishing the message his watch gave out a beeping noise. He just sighed, pressed a button, and started to undress.  
They hated doing this in the snow.  
But not like they had a choice.

 

„Look at this, Germany.”  
They ended up going into the cabin to look around. Germany felt like there was a hand around his heart when he saw all the paintings which were obviously made by Feliciano’s hand.  
But if that wasn’t Italy, then where was he?  
Russia opened the door to another room - and it had dark spots on the ground, neither of them had to think to recognize the faded bloodspots on the floorboards.

 

There’s always blood. One can’t really avoid it.  
Italy put his clothes down neatly folded, with the dictaphone on top of it.  
His whole body jerked, but when he fell down to the snow, he couldn’t really feel the cold anymore, only the pain that ran through his body.  
He had grown better to hide his cries - but he had always hated when he had company, because those times he had to do this quietly. And doing this day by day, for seventy years… well.  
But this time he let out a pained cry when his skin ripped open, patches of fur appearing underneath. Bones snapped, and his cry turned into an angry, painful growl.  
And the wolf next to him howled - and it just slowly turned into a whimper.

 

Feliciano felt the cold on his naked skin as he woke up in the snow which was painted red by his own blood - and the first thing he wanted to do was to cry and run, although did not know why.  
The wolf was close to him, poking him with his nose, whining, nudging him to move. The wolf pulled himself close, so Feliciano just clung into his thick fur, getting some warmth from his companion.  
„Alright… alright. I’m getting to it. But why did we had to change out here, huh?”  
Obviously the wolf couldn’t answer, so Feliciano crawled forward in the dreadfully cold snow, and just grabbed at the clothes, pulling them on.  
When he was done, he just took the dictaphone into his hand, and pressed play.

_„Feli… Feliciano, I messed up. You probably feel scared or sad, and… and that’s because Russia and Germany have found us. I… I ran, but how I acted… they may know that I was not you. I’m so sorry, Feliciano. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry you have to be the one who has to deal with it. But I will not leave you. You know that… I’ll be there. And I’m sorry.”_

The dictaphone fell out of Feliciano’s hands, and he was just kneeling there in the snow. The wolf gently nudged his hand.  
„Oh… oh, Luciano, what are we gonna do?”

 

~*~

 

There were a lot of cassette tapes in the cabin. They were carefully labelled, and put into order. Every day. Labelled either “L” or “F”. They were everywhere.  
But there were a few out-of-order ones, put away differently. Maybe Mr. Vargas liked to listen to those?  
„Maybe we should listen to them?” Russia mused. „That would maybe help us understand the situation.”  
The front door slammed open, and Italy stormed in. He looked weary, but he wasn’t wearing his sunglasses anymore - and the wolf was by his side, just as before.  
„Oh, Italy. We didn’t know you’d come back.”  
„It’s my home.”  
His tone might have been childish, but his hands were shaking as he put his hand to the wolf’s head, avoiding eye contact.  
„...it’s my home and those tapes are… private. Please don’t listen to them.”  
Footsteps. The wolf’s low growl. Ludwig’s fingers under Italy’s chin, forcing him to look at him - and the other nation almost flinching away, but in the end, he didn’t move.  
„You are Italy.”  
Feliciano smiled a little, although he looked like he was about to cry.  
„Hello, Germany.”

 

„So. Are you gonna tell us who the other guy was? Because that was definitely not you.”  
Feliciano was sitting in his armchair, petting the wolf’s head in his lap, staring into the fire.  
„It was your wolf, wasn’t it?” Russia asked, tilting his head. “He is the only other person around.”  
„He is my wolf now, yes. And when you met him, I was the wolf.” Feliciano said in a soft voice, still looking into the fire. “This is how it works. There can’t be two of us at the same time. There can’t be two North Italies. The universe balances itself out. This is how it chose to keep balance.”  
„How can be two North Italies?” Germany muttered.  
„From the mirror. The mirror world. His name is Luciano, and… and he fled his own world.”

 

~*~

 

He still remembered that day seventy years prior, like it was just the previous day. Luciano’s hand pressed to the other side of the mirror, pleading.  
„This World War, this… I’ve done bad things. I know. Awful things. Worse than anyone else. But I… they might even kill me for it. They are gonna keep Germany alive, because Prussia isn’t relevant anymore, and Japan and our other allies are all safe too, because they don’t want to destroy a nation. But they can kill me. They can kill me, because there is another Italy. I… I don’t want to die, Feliciano.”  
Luciano did not want to die.  
Feliciano wanted to run away, not being able to look into Germany’s and Japan’s eyes after turning his back to them in the war.  
So he put his hand on the mirror - and just pulled Luciano through it.

 

For a few hours, everything was fine. Feliciano was telling things about their worlds’ states, and he found a really focused audience in Luciano.  
And then the sun went down, and they found out that this little trip did not come without a price.

 

~*~

 

„In the next few days, we figured out the rules.” Feliciano continued in a soft voice. “Sun goes down - I’m human, Luciano is a wolf. Sun comes up, we switch places.”  
„How much do you remember of being a wolf?” Germany asked.  
„Not much. I remember… feelings, mostly. But it’s hard to figure out why I feel the things I feel.”  
„That’s why you need the tapes” Ivan nodded. “This is how you inform each other.”  
Feliciano also nodded, continuing scratching the back of the wolf’s ears.  
„At first we used notes, but that was more bothersome. After a while we could get our hands on a dictaphone. There are always some people in the village who are willing to buy us knew tapes. This… works.”  
Silence sat in the cabin - Ludwig had so many questions, he didn’t even know where to start.

 

They stuck to the practical questions. They found out that their transformations were directly tied to the sunset and the dawn. If they were to travel up north, it would probably lock them into one form for about six months - there was a time where they were considering it, but then decided against it. Neither of them wanted to be stuck as a wolf for half a year.

~*~

 

Ivan walked out to the snow, letting Germany and Italy have their privacy. Well, along with Luciano, apparently, but he was a wolf now.  
And Ivan was completely used to Russian winter nights either way.  
He just sighed, and dialled a number, and waited for the other side to pick up.  
„Hi there, England. I need to tell you something.”

 

After putting down the phone, Arthur looked down thoughtful.  
He knew he also had to make a call about this.  
But he definitely didn’t want to.

 

They almost never talked with Oliver. It’s not like their worlds had much to do with each other. Or so they thought.  
Arthur just sighed, and whispered the magic words in front of the mirror - it lit up with a bright light, and the reflection inside changed to a different room. But no Oliver in sight.  
Well, he could hear him hum somewhere.  
„Oliver! Oliver, I need to speak with you now!”  
After a few moments, Oliver walked in front of the mirror, and frowned.  
„Oh, hello, Arthur. Did not expect you to call, like… ever. What is going on? I’d love to have a chat, but kind of busy here.”  
„Is your North Italy missing?”  
Now that got Oliver’s attention, as he raised his eyebrows.  
„Curiouser and curiouser. Yes, he is. Please, Arthur, do go on.”  
„I think he probably is in our world.”  
„Oh dear, that is not good. But that would certainly explain why our world has all this extreme climate change. Yours too, I assume?”  
Arthur nodded.  
„They upset the balance. Our world has two North Italies. Yours have none. Even if the universe tried to balance it out, it is like putting a band-aid over a gaping wound.”  
„What do you mean by the universe trying to fix the balance?”  
After hearing an explanation, Oliver slowly nodded.  
„After all these years, the universe still surprises me. He needs to come back as soon as possible. The damage is already done, but maybe we can slow down the process. Maybe eventually reverse it.”  
„I agree, but from what Russia told me… he lived here for seventy years, living half of his life alone with a wolf, and the other half being a wolf. That’s some dedication there.”  
„Oh, yes. Luciano dear had always been stubborn to a fault. So I think I should be the one who takes him back home. I know him more than you.”  
„...we really shouldn’t upset the balance more than it already is with you coming over. And I don’t want to transform to an animal either. Even though I’d make a mighty lion, I’d still pass.”  
„Oh no, silly! Obviously for the meantime you would come over to this world!”  
"What the fuck?!”  
„Oh dear, don’t swear!”

 

~*~

 

When the wolf suddenly froze and sniffed the air, Feliciano instantly knew there was something wrong.  
„Luci…?”  
But it was too late, the wolf already turned around, and took off - Feliciano darted after him, but Russia caught his arm  
„Let go!”  
„Sorry, Italy. Can’t do that. It’d be rude to not wait for our guest.”  
Dread crept up on Feliciano’s spine, as he saw the approaching figure in the faint dim glow of the flashlights. He was familiar but so different too, his hair an almost pink-shaded blond, freckles all over his face, and a pleasant smile.  
„Oliver…”  
„Oh! So I guess Luciano was nice enough to mention me. Hi there!” Oliver had a huge smile on his face.  
„What are you doing here?”  
„Oh dearie. I think you are smart enough to figure that out. This cannot stay like this. He has to come back home.”  
Dread washed over Feliciano, and he felt paralyzed, still in Russia’s arms.  
„How do you even know about the situation?” Germany demanded, stepping protectively between Feliciano and Oliver.  
„Oh, your Russia… Ivan, I believe? Yes, dear Ivan called Arthur. And he contacted me.”  
The dread disappeared, and cold, raw anger took over Feliciano upon hearing that, and just ripped himself out of Russia’s hold. He backed away, staring at him, with eyes on fire.  
„How dare you.”  
It wasn’t even a question, not really, it was just a low hiss, as he glared at Russia, the flashlights giving his face an eerie, almost otherworldly glow.  
„Italy, you know this can’t stay like this.”  
„Where he could have ran?” Oliver asked, rocking himself on his heels.  
„Literally anywhere!” Feliciano was almost in hysterics. „Anywhere! We both know this mountain like the back of our hands. There are dozens of places he could have ran into. And none of them is safe enough to transform back into human form. I hope you are happy. Because if I don’t find him soon, he’ll freeze to death.”  
„He’s a nation though.” Germany pointed out, but Italy just shook his head.  
„We noticed… we haven’t aged, true, but our healing had slowed down. Injuries that should have taken minutes to heal stayed there for days. There is a very real chance that he’d freeze to death.”  
„Two of the same nation in one plane of existence” Oliver mused. „Makes sense that you would share the abilities. Therefore your healing would be downplayed. We better scout out soon, then, before the night comes and he changes back and gets stranded in the cold alone.”  
Feliciano looked at Oliver, eyes searching England’s freckled face - and the other nation just smiled.  
„Do not worry… Feliciano, right? We have no intention of hurting him.”  
„He told me you would kill him for his war crimes.” Feliciano said in a soft voice, and Oliver tilted his head.  
„So you knew about it, and still helped him? Curious. I have to admit I thought he had manipulated you - he has a talent for that.”  
„Maybe in the beginning” Feliciano admitted. „But first of all, he never denied he did terrible things - but so have I. I didn’t feel like it was my place to judge him. And second of all... seventy years is a long time. And lies eventually do come out.”

 

~*~

 

_Hey there, Feliciano. After all these years, I feel like it’s finally time to be honest with you. After all, all I have is your voice in these tapes and the four-legged version of you. And I… wasn’t really honest with you.  
I didn’t plan to stick around you, at all. I just wanted to go anywhere from being killed, and it didn’t matter who did I have to use. So I put up my best face of desperation, and reached out to you. I planned on getting all the info out from you and just get lost. Possibly playing the game again, getting myself to the top of this world. I don’t know. That was a distant goal all those years ago. Sounds really stupid now doesn’t it?  
Honestly, if you would have been the one to transform into a wolf first… I would have left you there.  
But you didn’t leave me. You just stayed there.  
You never told me what happened, but trust me. I could piece it together after I turned back into a human._

 

There was blood, lots of blood, and despite the warmth of Feliciano’s home, Luciano was still shivering. He still tasted his own blood on his tongue as he bit at it… once he had his human tongue back.  
His memories were blurry, but god, he wished they would have been even blurrier than that.  
He was a fucking wolf, for crying out loud.  
And he was alone, so he shakily stood up, put a blanket around himself (also blood-stained) and started to look around the house.  
All the windows were closed, and the curtains pulled in, the doors closed. There was destruction everywhere, many things ripped apart.  
He heard a whining sound behind one of the doors, and Luciano hesitantly opened up the door.  
And inside, there was a wolf.  
There was a fucking wolf, on the other side of the room, curling up, surrounded by blood, his fur patchy with blood too.  
He was pretty sure he saw wounds on the wolf.  
Claw marks.

 

_I hurt you, haven’t I? When I turned into a wolf. I was probably terrified, and lashed out, and you got hurt, and you didn’t heal as fast as we usually do.  
But you let me take care of you and clean your wound, and even though part of me still wanted to leave you behind after patching you up, I figured I can’t do it while I am gonna be cursed to turn into a wolf.  
I figured I’d wait until I figure something out. Until then, you’d be useful to be around. I figure that after I decided that… that’s why I didn’t want to run anymore as a wolf either.  
At least I had never seen you injured after that. At least not from injuries caused by me.  
I really hope you weren’t hiding them from me. Then again, I suppose I would deserve that, wouldn’t I?  
I don’t know when did I stop thinking about what should I do, and started to think about what should we do. But I think I sort of got used to this. Alone against the world with you on my side. No matter how many legs we have.  
You and I… we both know one day this will end. One way or another, and I just… Feliciano, I just want you to know… I regret a lot of things in my life. But I don’t regret meeting you. Even if the circumstances were a little bit really fucked up… there’s no one else I could imagine doing this with._

 

~*~

 

„So you do trust him.”  
„Yes.”  
„Do you trust that he’ll come back?”  
„I don’t think he will. Because of you” Feliciano’s voice was bitter. „Usually, he would. But with you here? He’s probably scared out of his mind, and it is your fault.”  
„Well then.” Ivan clapped his hands together. „Search party it is?”  
„Oliver should come with me” Feliciano said suddenly. „If he runs into Oliver alone, he’ll just flee further. But if he smells me with him, odds are he’d come closer.”  
„Possibly to attack me in case I’m a threat to you?”  
„Well, Luciano told me you have magic. I’m sure you can protect yourself from a wolf.”

 

„I must say, little Italy had surely grown up, da?”  
Germany just treaded the snow, looking around - he wasn’t even sure he’d recognize Luciano as a wolf. Or Feliciano as a wolf, if the sun were to come up.  
It wasn’t that far away now, to be honest.  
Ludwig just sighed, pointing his flashlight around the forest.  
Feliciano wasn’t kidding. Luciano really could have hidden anywhere.

 

„It must have been really scary.”  
Feliciano pursed his lips together, as he just walked forward, determined, but Oliver kept talking.  
„Transforming for the first time. Whichever of you did it first.”

 

~*~

 

It was hard to forget.  
It was hard to forget how Luciano’s body jerked suddenly from the pain, the way he cried out loud, falling to the ground, and that sound sounded suspiciously like a bone breaking. Neither of them expected this, and the way Luciano seemed unable to stop the way his body was convulsing.  
And then blood spurted from every orifice of his - Feliciano tried to help him up, but then Luciano’s skin broke, and there was grey fur, and he backed up in terror.  
He couldn’t look away. He knew he should run, do something, but his legs didn’t move.  
Feliciano saw the wolf coming out from under Luciano’s skin, and bizarrely, his first thought was _this would make a good scene in a horror movie.  
_ Sometimes he really wanted to kick himself for his random thoughts. Especially at times like these.  
Especially as when it was all over, and Luciano’s cries turned into growls, and there was a wolf in the same room as Feliciano.

 

~*~

 

A howl rang through the air, and Feliciano stopped. The night had gotten brighter and brighter, signalling that the sunrise was dangerously close now  
After all these years, you recognise your constant companion’s call.  
This was not that.  
Feliciano just let out a shaky sigh - especially, as he saw eyes reflecting his flashlights from between the trees. This was getting worse with any minute.  
„Oliver… Luciano was right when he said that you have magic, right?”  
„Yes, of course.”  
„Fire magic too?”  
„Yes.”  
„Do it. Now.”  
Their flashlights got turned off, and a ball of fire appeared in Oliver’s hands.  
„Won’t this keep Luciano away too? Arthur told me you have limited sentience as a wolf.” Oliver asked softly, and Feliciano just shook his head, replying in a loud voice.  
„Either we scare him off too, or we get ripped apart by wild wolves. Your choice. And don’t whisper. They already know we are here.”  
„Is that supposed to make me feel better, my dear? Also, need I remind you, I most likely don’t have as much limitations on my healing as you do.”  
Feliciano swallowed. Right. It was pretty hard to forget about that.  
And then Feliciano’s watch beeped.  
„Oh. Oh, no. Not now.”

 

„Come on, Germany.”  
„Honestly, I don’t like going towards the wolf howls.”  
„We are tracking a wolf, though.” Ivan sped up his steps. „We sort of have to go towards any sound that can help us.”  
And soon they were seeing the fire.  
Balls of fire danced around Oliver, while Feliciano was obviously backing away from him, pulling off his scarf, and gloves and undoing his jacket.  
„Italy…”  
Feliciano whipped his head towards them and pointed at them.  
„You two. Up a tree. Now.”  
„Better listen to him” Oliver said nonchalantly. „Unless you want to add _being ripped apart by wolves_ to the list of ways you died.”  
„But…”  
„Germany, please. I’ll be fine.”  
„The sun is about to come up. Germany, we need to get up to the tree.” Russia whispered urgently.

 

Climbing a tree without taking his eyes off Feliciano wasn’t particularly easy, but Germany was afraid, that if he looks away, if he loses sight of his old friend, he might never see him for many years again.  
And one wolf started to advance at the half-naked Feliciano now, and he just straightened himself, raising the jacket up in the air.  
„Come on. Go away.”  
Feliciano said, but then there was a wolf creeping out from behind him.  
„Behind you!”  
He moved, turning around – turning his back to the other wolf in the process.  
Mistake.  
The wolf lounged, but before it could reach its prey, another body slammed into it. Another wolf, a big, grey one, who just snapped his teeth towards the attacker.  
And then the second wolf jumped, and the one who came… it was Luciano, wasn’t it, Luciano who bared his fangs, and growled and fought back viciously. Feliciano just stood there, and continued to undress.

 

The sun started to light up the horizon even more at this point, Feliciano’s whole body jerked, and Ludwig heard a bone snap, followed by Feliciano’s scream.  
Luciano also whined, falling between the bushes, and Oliver just sent out a ball of fire towards the attacking wolves, keeping them away from both Italians.  
But Ludwig’s eyes got pulled back to Feliciano who stopped screaming, but was holding his face in his hands, and there was blood dripping from between his fingers, and something fell to the ground… and when Feliciano looked up again, his eyes were yellow, like a wolf’s eyes.  
He heard Ivan whispering something to himself in Russian, but he just kept looking at Feliciano, how his body was jerking around, how he was basically clawing off his own skin to give way to the grey fur appearing from underneath, the bones snapping to set the wolf free from inside.  
It was over soon, and the wolf fell down in a tired way, crawling forward towards the bushes where Luciano fell down – and there he was, appearing from underneath, dishevelled, but decidedly human, immediately reaching towards the wolf, clinging into him. He looked so much like Feliciano, but when he looked around, with the look of a still-cornered-animal, Ludwig saw that his eyes were deep violet, unlike Feliciano’s brown eyes.

He jumped off the tree, and walked forward, calmly – he didn’t know who was he more danger of, Feliciano as the wolf, or Luciano as the human waiting to lash out.  
He leant down to the clothes discarded by Feliciano, trying to ignore the blood in the snow, and just grabbed his clothes, as he slowly advanced towards the pair. No one said a word, and it was like everyone was holding their breaths back.  
And Ludwig just extended his hand towards Luciano, giving him the clothes.  
„There. I think you should get dressed.”  
In hindsight, he should have said anything better or smarter, but for now, it seemed to work – Luciano just nodded, and reached for the clothes.

 

~*~

 

„You know this can’t go on like this. You are a smart boy.”  
„Do not patronize me, Oliver.”  
Oliver made the other two wait in the other room, but even he didn’t try to separate Luciano from the wolf. They were sitting on the ground in one of the small rooms, Feliciano basically curling protectively around Luciano as they were sitting in the corner.  
„You know, you being this snappy against me would have a bigger weight if you wouldn’t have ran away from me.”  
„Don’t hold my actions as a wolf against me.”  
„I’m not talking about what you did as a wolf. You ran from our world.”  
The room was quiet, but the intensity of Luciano’s glare did not disappear.  
Oliver sort of felt like he would rip out his throat, no wolf teeth required.  
„Here’s the deal, Luciano. You can’t escape responsibility for your actions. None of us can. Germany, Japan, your other allies had already faced their punishment. I can offer you a deal to get out from the death penalty.”  
Quiet.  
„I am listening.”  
Oliver smiled.

 

~*~

 

„Let them sleep. The stasis I put on them will wear off once the sun goes down. When it happens, Feliciano will turn back to human, but the wards on the room will prevent Luciano from transforming.”  
Oliver was walking around in Arthur’s kitchen, making tea. At least his counterpart had some good ingredients for that.  
Ivan didn’t come with them, but there was no way to stop Ludwig from coming along. Oliver was carrying a sleeping Luciano so effortlessly there was probably magic involved, while Ludwig had to carry the also sleeping wolf, that was Feliciano.  
He was actually very heavy.  
„How did you get him to agree to go with you?”  
„Oh, it was actually really easy” Oliver shrugged nonchalantly. „He knows I can drag him back with my magic effortlessly. So either he comes, and he avoids what he was afraid of in the first place, and I even make it possible that he can say goodbye to Feliciano… or I take him back by force, and all bets are off.”  
„How could you even kill a nation?”  
Oliver smiled, and for the first time since he met him, his usually-pleasant smile sent a chill down Ludwig’s spine.  
„I have my ways.”  
Somehow, Ludwig didn’t doubt that.  
„Oh, I have been meaning to ask. Don’t you want to call Feliciano’s brother? I suppose he has one too.”  
„No… I mean, he has, but… let them have this without an angry Romano bursting through the door. Let them say goodbye.”

 

~*~

 

When Luciano woke up from the stasis, he was lying on the floor, next to Feliciano’s still-sleeping wolf form. He extended his hand, running his fingers through the wolf’s fur.  
„It’s all right. It’ll be all over soon.”  
He pulled his hand back when he saw Feliciano’s body jerk, and just watched as fur disappeared, and so did the claws and fangs, and there were blood of course, but Luciano stopped caring about seeing blood a long time before he even met Feliciano.  
„Hello, there.”

Feliciano’s eyes snapped open, and he just looked at Luciano – and the first time in a long while since Luciano could remember, he felt like crying.  
„You should get dressed” he said in a soft voice instead. „There are some clothes in here for you.”  
They didn’t break eye contact while Feliciano sat up, and Luciano still didn’t look away while the other boy looked for the clothes to get dressed. Just watched as he pulled on the shirt, wincing a little – they had always been sore after transforming back to human. It was hard to remember everything while being a wolf, but they never remembered being this sore in wolf form.  
Luciano tried not to notice the old claw marks and bite marks on Feliciano’s body.  
Feliciano did not look back at him, just covered his mouth for a few seconds, as if trying to hold back a sob – Luciano watched as he took a deep breath before looking at him again.  
„God I… I haven’t… I haven’t seen you since…”  
„1997.” Luciano finished the sentence in a soft voice.

 

~*~

 

It was early March in 1997 – they barely cared for the current date, and they had no idea what would happen. Not like they had a good weather forecast out there, and no one from the village told them what to expect, even if they did know. As far as Luciano was concerned, it started out as any other day.  
They were inside, and Luciano didn’t even look out the window when he realised it was getting darker – thick clouds were not unusual, but the night was still obviously far away, so he didn’t need to check his watch either.  
And then Feliciano jerked at his feet suddenly, with a surprised, painful yelp, and the oh-so-familiar sound of a bone snapping.  
„Feliciano!”  
He knew Feliciano couldn’t answer to him – he could just howl and whine, as his body jerked again, Luciano just reached out after him instinctively… and then suddenly a strong jaw locked around his hand.  
Now it was Luciano’s turn to let out a pained sound – luckily the next rush of pain made Feliciano release his grip, so he could pull his bleeding hand back.  
When he looked out the window, up to the sun, it suddenly became all clear.

 

A dark circle was slowly but surely moving in front of the sun, and Luciano felt his heart drop.  
A solar eclipse.  
He moved quickly, across the room, letting Feliciano have his place to transform while he grabbed one of the jackets from the corner.  
By the time he arrived back, it was almost over, Feliciano’s whimpers became decidedly human – and he just knelt down next to him, putting a jacket over him.  
Feliciano jerked away, not expecting human contact, eyes wide… and then recognition appeared in his eyes, and a lot of different emotions ran through his face.  
„It’s all right. I got you.”  
Feliciano looked at him, from head to toe, eyes settling on Luciano’s bloody hand.  
„…I bit you.”  
„Don’t even worry about it. Try to catch your breath. I don’t know how much time we have.”  
„What is…”  
„Solar eclipse.”  
The answer was a nod, and Feliciano just looked at him.  
„God, it’s so weird, seeing you.”  
Luciano let out a small laugh, running a hand through Feliciano’s hair.  
„You tell me. A few minutes ago you had fur.”  
Feliciano chuckled a little, and just leant forward, putting his forehead to Luciano’s shoulder. He couldn’t help it – he just hugged him back.

 

Later, Luciano found out that the final phase of the total eclipse didn’t even last three minutes. Sitting there, with Feliciano in his arms, it seemed even shorter before he felt Feliciano’s spine snap under his hand, and the other boy’s cry rang in his ears.  
„It’s okay. It’s okay. I got you. I’ll be here.”  
He couldn’t explain why was he whispering these words, and he never talked about it later.  
(But he remembered, he never forgot how Feliciano had to deal with his first transformation alone and terrified and injured, and then go through his own first transformation alone too. Later, there was just no way whatsoever to help each other.)  
He felt something sticky and wet on his face, and that’s when he let go of him, gently letting him lie back down to the floor.  
But then again, there was nothing gentle about this whole process.

 

~*~

 

„You never complained about me biting you.”  
„Let’s face it, usually I deserved it.”  
Feliciano smiled a little, once again lying down, the two of them just looking at each other.  
„Even though I bit you more than you bit me.”  
„You mean after the first time when I almost ripped you apart.”  
„Well. Yes.”  
Now it was Luciano’s turn to smile, and then he just caressed Feliciano’s face – whose smile disappeared.  
„You are gonna go with Oliver aren’t you?”  
It was quiet, and Luciano just sighed.  
„You know, it was easier to talk to you when I just listened to your tapes, and had a whole day to figure out how to reply.”  
Feliciano closed his eyes.  
„Will I ever see you again?”  
Once again, it was quiet.  
„I… don’t know. Maybe if we can get that mirror work that way again. We never did figure out how did that connect us either way. I suppose it will depend on my punishment.”  
„You mean, whether you live or die.”  
„That was part of the deal. I go with him willingly, and I won’t get death penalty.”  
That made Feliciano open his eyes, and he smiled again.  
„Well. At least this whole thing wasn’t useless.”  
„It wasn’t useless” Luciano protested. “Feliciano I…”  
But Feliciano just raised a finger and put it on Luciano’s lips, making him go quiet.  
„…I guess it’s time for both of us to stop running, huh?”  
„...yeah. Yeah, I guess you are right.”  
Feliciano just let Luciano pull him closer, and he closed his eyes again, listening to Luciano’s heartbeat, still wishing that Oliver would never knock on the door.

**Author's Note:**

> If you stuck out with me so far, yay, thank you for this! Here are the list of inspirations:
> 
> \- The whole plot is a reference to the movie called "Ladyhawke".  
> \- The transformation sequences are inspired by the werewolf transformation of "Hemlock Grove".  
> \- The 2P characterizations are partially inspired by fandom ideas, and partially my own headcanons.


End file.
